Fawzi Selu

Fawzi Selu (1905-1972) was President of Syria from 3 December 1951 to 11 July 1953, succeeding Hashim al-Atassi and preceding Adib Shishakli.

Biography
Fawzi Selu was born in 1905, and he attended the Homs Military Academy, becoming director after Syria gained independence from France in 1946. In March 1949, he was sent to Israel by Husni al-Za'im to negotiate an armistice, and in July he was one of the architects of the peace that ended the First Arab-Israeli War. In November 1951, Selu and Adib Shishakli both launched a coup against Hashim al-Atassi's government when he betrayed al-Za'im's attempts to make peace with Israel, and they jointly ruled a police state. However, in July 1953 Shishakli decided to seize power for himself and Selu went into exile. He lived the rest of his life in Saudi Arabia after being sentenced to death in absentia in Syria by a military court convened after Shishakli's overthrow.